A Time For Everything
Ecclesiastes 3:1–8 (ESV)
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.
Hey church,
Thanks so much for joining us in sending the Rourk family off into their new adventure. It was a time of laughter and tears, of mourning and celebrating, as is any proper goodbye. As Solomon says, there is a time for everything under heaven. We feel this as a church on many levels. We feel it relationally, we feel it emotionally, we feel it spiritually, and we feel it practically.
Both Devan and Paden served as administrators in their long time at Anthem; most recently, Paden held much responsibility as the Deacon of Operations here. He was passionate about taking care of the logistics so ministries could thrive and the pastors could be freed up for pastoring. This he did well - our church and leadership has shifted in many ways over the past five years, but through it all we could always offload administrative work to Paden to be handled. His absence now creates some holes, and while there are times where it all feels overwhelming, I’m confident as I sit here today that we can adapt through prayer, patience, and proactivity.
PRAYER
One thing we are all in agreement on as leaders (Paden included) is that the way forward is not simply replacing Paden’s role with someone else. We believe the Lord is leading us to a more collaborative approach to this aspect of ministry. I’m not saying there won’t someday be another designated administrator - that could very well be the case - but the size of the role would likely be greatly decreased. To take up the rest of the weight, we come to the Lord.
God, how have you gifted people in our church? What spiritual gifts lie dormant among our people that need to be awakened to serve the kingdom? What are we doing that we need to continue? What are we doing that we need to stop? What are we not doing that we need to start?
The departure of the Rourks is forcing us to take a thorough look at what we do and how we do it, and this is a good and holy thing. Join us as we pray for God’s will to be continually revealed in the big and the small things.
PROACTIVITY
A large chunk of the day-in, day-out tasks Paden did are easy for me to assimilate, and in the short term I’m willing and happy to do so. However, my personality will continue in this type of task work indefinitely, and in the long term I can’t devote myself to full-time administration and full-time pastoring. I can only be part-time both, realistically, and the church suffers on both ends. I have asked our elders and leaders for accountability and assistance as we proactively look for ways to delegate and streamline the administration and operations of the church. We will do so proactively - the health of everyone involved depends on it.
PATIENCE
I don’t anticipate this being much of a problem for our church, but I am putting this here as a reminder to myself and whoever else needs it - please be patient as our church family adjusts to this change. Some things may take longer than they normally do, we may miss a few cues, and there will be some bumps as we engage with this transition. We are confident, however, that we can figure all of this out and that this can and will be a good thing for our church if we allow the Spirit to lead.
Indeed, there is a time for everything under heaven. And many times, God is doing more than one thing at once. We can be sad and excited for the Rourks, and at the same time we can be expectant that God is doing something new and beautiful here in our midst. I’ve talked to many of you who share this sense - God is on the move, and there is a lot to look forward to in the season to come.
On Thursday (7/30) I’m heading out of town with family; I’ll have my phone and email off to rest and reconnect with family and the with Lord. I’ll be back online on Monday, August 10, ready to engage with the upcoming season of life and ministry. Should you need anything urgently, please reach out to the elders at elders@anthemchurch.net or speak to Joel or Cody directly.
Blessings to you all. May we know the true God in a real way in all of our lives.
Andrew
Thanks so much for joining us in sending the Rourk family off into their new adventure. It was a time of laughter and tears, of mourning and celebrating, as is any proper goodbye. As Solomon says, there is a time for everything under heaven. We feel this as a church on many levels. We feel it relationally, we feel it emotionally, we feel it spiritually, and we feel it practically.
Both Devan and Paden served as administrators in their long time at Anthem; most recently, Paden held much responsibility as the Deacon of Operations here. He was passionate about taking care of the logistics so ministries could thrive and the pastors could be freed up for pastoring. This he did well - our church and leadership has shifted in many ways over the past five years, but through it all we could always offload administrative work to Paden to be handled. His absence now creates some holes, and while there are times where it all feels overwhelming, I’m confident as I sit here today that we can adapt through prayer, patience, and proactivity.
PRAYER
One thing we are all in agreement on as leaders (Paden included) is that the way forward is not simply replacing Paden’s role with someone else. We believe the Lord is leading us to a more collaborative approach to this aspect of ministry. I’m not saying there won’t someday be another designated administrator - that could very well be the case - but the size of the role would likely be greatly decreased. To take up the rest of the weight, we come to the Lord.
God, how have you gifted people in our church? What spiritual gifts lie dormant among our people that need to be awakened to serve the kingdom? What are we doing that we need to continue? What are we doing that we need to stop? What are we not doing that we need to start?
The departure of the Rourks is forcing us to take a thorough look at what we do and how we do it, and this is a good and holy thing. Join us as we pray for God’s will to be continually revealed in the big and the small things.
PROACTIVITY
A large chunk of the day-in, day-out tasks Paden did are easy for me to assimilate, and in the short term I’m willing and happy to do so. However, my personality will continue in this type of task work indefinitely, and in the long term I can’t devote myself to full-time administration and full-time pastoring. I can only be part-time both, realistically, and the church suffers on both ends. I have asked our elders and leaders for accountability and assistance as we proactively look for ways to delegate and streamline the administration and operations of the church. We will do so proactively - the health of everyone involved depends on it.
PATIENCE
I don’t anticipate this being much of a problem for our church, but I am putting this here as a reminder to myself and whoever else needs it - please be patient as our church family adjusts to this change. Some things may take longer than they normally do, we may miss a few cues, and there will be some bumps as we engage with this transition. We are confident, however, that we can figure all of this out and that this can and will be a good thing for our church if we allow the Spirit to lead.
Indeed, there is a time for everything under heaven. And many times, God is doing more than one thing at once. We can be sad and excited for the Rourks, and at the same time we can be expectant that God is doing something new and beautiful here in our midst. I’ve talked to many of you who share this sense - God is on the move, and there is a lot to look forward to in the season to come.
On Thursday (7/30) I’m heading out of town with family; I’ll have my phone and email off to rest and reconnect with family and the with Lord. I’ll be back online on Monday, August 10, ready to engage with the upcoming season of life and ministry. Should you need anything urgently, please reach out to the elders at elders@anthemchurch.net or speak to Joel or Cody directly.
Blessings to you all. May we know the true God in a real way in all of our lives.
Andrew
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